My best friend Gina is a walking, talking mermaid, so it was only fitting that her bridal shower was mermaid themed. I wanted to find the right balance between hinting at the theme and children’s birthday party, since we are in our mid 20’s. She’s marrying one of my best friends, Eric, and as the MOH, the pressure was totally on! ;) It was a group effort with my other best friend, Maddy, (who’s Gina’s cousin) and her mom (my “Aunt Kathy”) to pull this off (we even enlisted my other “cousin”/bridesmaid, Ali), and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.The photos are all by Daryl Hutchison, so if you’re in Southern California and you need a great photographer, let me know and I can put you in touch.

Venue: Maddy’s house at 11:30a.m. All guests arrived around 11:45, which made lunch at 12 perfect. (Eric stopped by to drop something off, so we grabbed him for a quick before sending him on his way)

Outside decor: Aunt Kathy painted a mermaid tail welcome sign for the front door. What’s better than a bejeweled painting? Nothing! We also set up balloons on the mailbox.

Photobooth: We found mermaid fabric (considered gift ribbon, but it’s more of a fabric) on sale at Joann’s two days after Christmas. Totally divine intervention. I grabbed three large rolls, which was more than enough. My aunt made a wooden, U-shaped frame to prop up the booth. We then fastened a blue tablecloth behind because the mermaid fabric would have been too sheer, and put the gift ribbon over to give it texture. Bubbles were made by combining glass ornaments with plastic ornaments (be careful of hot glue melting the ornaments). We put pearls on it to give it an extra kick, and then printed a sign to top it off. Props included signs (regular paper glued to foam boards and skewered) and plastic shells.

Gift board: I wanted to give the guests something small to take home with them, but make it into an activity. We used the same mermaid fabric (wrapped around three times each ‘row’) on a large wooden panel. Then we tied two ropes of twine together for each line. We wrote each guest’s name on a clothespin and fastened a bag of Swedish fish to the bag. We added a little rhyme/ribbon to the middle of the board to spruce it up and give it some dimension. We put out a Polaroid camera next to the board, plus markers. Goal? Take your sweet treat, and replace it with a Polaroid photo with the bride. At the end of the day, she had an individual photo with every single one of her guests, and the guests had something to snack on on the way home.

Tassels: Tassels run for about $10 online, so we decided to make them ourselves. We got a variety of tissue paper colors in blue and white hues. Fold hot dog style, cut little strips. Twist, leaving a little loop. Tape to hold it. Then string twine through and pin it wherever you need be. You can get a pack of 30 white tissue paper sheets for $1 at the Dollar Tree. Colored is more expensive, but it’s such a nominal fee.

Table arrangement: Having a seating chart was really important for us. We wrote guests’ names on wooden pieces from Michael’s. Permanent marker smeared, so I used an ink pen. We used white tabe cloths and tulle fabric from Hobby Lobby as a table runner to give it some color.

Bride’s chair: We decorated Gina’s chair with white tulle and a blue bow. Of course, she was head of the table.

Centerpiece: We found a mermaid hanging metal piece at Hobby Lobby in Colorado. We sanded the back down to get rid of the hook, then spruced it up with a little bit of paint. We used a wooden stick and cut a slit down the middle to rest the mermaid in. We glued it together, and then wrapped twine around it to give it some texture. Then we filled a large vase with seashells and put the large stick through. The shells helped stabilize the mermaid stick.

Mini centerpiece: We filled glass containers with sand and sea glass. I wrapped twine around three times, hot glued, and attached a shell to the side.

Games: I jumped on Word and printed little sheets for guests to write their favorite Gina-related memory. I asked them not to write their name on it. I read them out loud, and Gina guessed who it was. It was a fun buffer that we did before and after presents.

Kiss The Miss: Guests put on lipstick and kiss the canvas, then add a sweet note. It’s a perfect keepsake for the bride to take home.

Gift opening: I reached out to floral design teacher friend and had her make Gina a seashell crown, which she wore during gift opening. As the MOH, be sure to have a running list of what each guest brought. It helps with Thank You cards! I used a clipboard so I could attach all the random gift receipts and gift cards so they weren’t flying around.

At the end of the day, my main girl was happy, and that’s all I could have asked for. I’m blessed to be able to play a role in her big day, and all the wonderful events leading up to it. Now the bachelorette party planning begins!

Daphne and I needed a quick girls getaway for the weekend, so we headed up the coast to Santa Barbara! We stopped at Summerland on the way in hopes of finding Jesse McCartney, but were unsuccessful. Maybe next time! We stayed at a cute Air B n’ B right off of State Street, and headed to the Christmas parade for the night. The parade had more than 90 floats! After the Christmas parade, we grabbed dinner. It was absolutely freezing, and truly felt like Christmas time. We spent the next day riding a tandem bike (certainly harder than you’d think, by the way…), losing phones, recovering phones, and losing phones again. We managed to fit in a quick visit to Mission Santa Barbara, which was gorgeous. We headed to the pier for the most expensive ice cream I’ve ever had (you live and you learn!) and soaked up the sunshine. Sometimes all you need is a quick trip with your best friend to make everything right again!